Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Tremors 2: Aftershocks (USA, 1996)

Way back in 1990, Kevin Bacon, deep in a career slump at the
tender of age of 30, bemoaned the fact that he was "doing a movie about
underground worms!" Bacon's career eventually revived itself — thanks, in
part, by taking the Shelley Winters approach and moving into character parts —
and that movie about underground worms, Tremors
(1990 / trailer),
went on to become a cult classic (despite its initial less than spectacular box
office success).

Today, Tremors is one of those ageless movies that even
still works on every level. A modernized version of the typical Jack Arnold
monster movie, but with way more humor, the cast, acting, and direction and
story are all dead on. It is a movie worth watching, and one that many people
(like us) are always happy to watch again.

It is probably the slow-cook success of the movie that
resulted in the six-year span between the Tremors and Tremors II: Aftershocks,
the first of four direct-to-video/DVD franchise flicks, a short-lived TV series
of 13 episodes in 2003, and yet another
direct-to-DVD sequel due next year (not to mention a TV series reboot
being developed for Kevin Bacon). Six years isn't much, however, in comparison
to the 21 years it's taken us to get around to watching the first sequel. Was
the wait worth it? Well, we've seen worse, we've seen better. (Were we a
teacher, and the flick a term paper, we'd give it a solid "C".)

For whatever reason, Kevin Bacon didn't return for Aftershocks,
but the always likable Fred Ward did. Direction was taken over by S.S. Wilson,
who co-wrote the script to the first movie and this one with his regular
collaborator Brent Maddock. Basically, they took the original story from Tremors
and tweaked it a little and made Tremors II: Aftershocks, adding only one truly
original idea: evolution. Thus, the underground "Grabiods" beget the
"Screamers" — they, in turn, go on to beget "AssBlasters"
in Tremors III: Back to Perfection (2001 / trailer),
but we won't get into that.

Whereas the ending of Tremors infers that that the three core
characters — Valentine McKee (Bacon), Earl Bass (Ward) and Rhonda LeBeck (Finn
Carter of Sweet Justice [1992 / trailer])
— ride off to fame and fortune, by Aftershocks bad contracts and bad
investments have brought down-on-his-luck Earl back to Nowheresville,
struggling to make a living from ostriches. (Valentine, on the other hand was
busy filming, dunno, Apollo 13 [1996 / trailer]
or maybe Murder in the First [1996 / trailer].)

As luck would have it, Petromaya, an oil firm down in Mexico, is having its own
difficulties with the carnivorous Grabiods, and through the power of money ($50,000
for each dead Graboid) they convince Earl to go down across the border and solve
their problem.

Through the kind of contrivances scriptwriters think up when
they need a specific character, Earl ends up partnering with Grady Hoover (Chris
Gartin of Friends and Family [2001 / trailer]),
a man of similar intellect and character as Valentine (imagine if Valentine had
been a city slicker instead of a country bumpkin). Along the way, a romantic
interest is introduced — this time around for Earl — in the form of geologist Kate
'White' Reilly (Helen Shaver of Amityville Horror [1979 / trailer],
The Believers [1987 / trailer]
and The Craft [1996 / trailer]),
and then Perfection's survivalist Burt Gummer (Michael Gross of all the sequels)
joins the show. And then: evolution.

OK, the dialogue is funny and the characters likable if
barely sketched or clichéd, but the whole movie comes across pretty much like a
weak second brewing of the same teabag of your favorite tea: it echoes all that
you loved in the first brewing, but it just doesn't cut the mustard. And that
is the problem of Aftershocks: we have seen it all before, not only that but
done better, so it fails in general to interest even though it is
professionally made. If you have seen Tremors, Aftershock just comes across as
completely unnecessary, if not a bit dull and uninteresting. In turn, it well
made enough that if you have never seen Tremors, and you can get past the jokes
(visual and spoken) that build upon the first movie, Aftershock will probably
mildly entertain the child within you.

Also, the bodycount is surprisingly low for a horror movie,
comedic or not. In Tremors, about nine or ten people (of varied nationalities) went
to meet their merry maker in ways funny to tragic, while in Aftershock the
death toll is a measly three men, all of whom are Mexican. (Do we detect a
certain level of subconscious racism here?) For the life of us, we couldn't
figure out why the screenwriters didn't at least do away Grady, who for all
intents and purposes is an expendable character. Hell, he doesn't even return
for Tremors III or V: Bloodlines (2015 / trailer).
(As Tremors IV: The Legend Begins [2004 / trailer]
is a prequel, it at least makes sense that he's not there.)

As for the titular monsters, most of the killings of the Graboids
& Co. are reduced to scenes of flying guts and debris, which always seems
to land just where the main characters are located and nowhere else, or CGI
effects instead of any amazing old-school special effects, so there ain't much thrill
there either.

Tremors II: Aftermath is like virtually any major American
beer: it leaves no aftertaste, but has no punch even as it seems oh-so-fondly
familiar. As a movie, it is not terrible, but not great: it's a faded,
less-colorful rehash of the first film that sits smack-dab in the middle of
perfunctory. But at least it has laughs: laughs go a long way, baby.

Note:

Hi there. This blog is about obscure, trashy, fun, bad and fabulous films. Therefore, this blog is likely to contain "adult" material such as images of blood, guts, nekkid wimin and even — GASP! — penis. If you are offended by the sight of such things, we advise you leave this blog and go here instead.Please be forewarned that A Wasted Life, as life is apt to be, may not be suitable for under-age readers and/or workplace viewing. Reader discretion is advised.Furthermore, we take no responsibility for any of the links found on this blog. So if you click on one, you take full responsibility for your decision to do so no matter whether you are suddenly confronted by Donald Duck, clean-shaven clinical detail, gushing salamis, Trojans from Russia or whatever.Feel free to use anything found on this blog – our only contingency is that you should give proper credit and (if possible) add a link to A Wasted Life.Peace, love and Bobby Sherman.

About Me

An accidental ex-pat that has enjoyed the city of Berlin for over 30 years shares his extensive knowledge and personal opinions on the films that he has and still is wasting his life on by watching.
For more insight into his fabulously normal life, choose one of the blogs below that fits the topic you want to read about. And remember: it's not life that sucks, it's your life that sucks.

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